DISTANT: Detroit Flashcards
(17 cards)
Give location of Detroit
City in North East USA on the Detroit river in the state of Michigan
Give population statistic
Population was 670,000 in 2016 and has been in decline since the 1970s alongside economic decline
Give the locale of Detroit
- Diverse culture with international influence
- Motown and Jackson 5 assisted in the development of Jazz
- Big 3 auto manufacturer center of US automobile infustry
When was the period of decline ?
1970s-1980s
Give white flight statistics
- When white people fled to the suburbs they only made up 10.6% of the population
- 36% below poverty line
- 25% people had no car so couldn’t escape to the suburbs
Give a stat about the Great Migration
African American numbers went from 600,000 to 120,000
Give an example of social and racial tensions which increased during the fall of Detroit
12th street riot
Give the statistics to compare the 2 contrasting areas
Gross Pointe park
- 11,000 people 85% white
- $100,000 household income
Detroit city
- 688,000 people 82% black
- $27,000 household income
What was a contributor to the loss of the car industry ?
Energy crisis 1970s
Give stats for the environmental impact of the loss of the car industry and fall of Detroit
- Industrial pollution killed 11,000 ducks
- 90000 vacant buildings (Packard Automotive plant now N America’s largest ruin)
- City suffers 50% more from asthma and cancer than other states
Give statistics for the future of Detroit
- Dan Gilbert sells empty properties and has relocated 7000 of employees to city as part of Detroit 2.0 revival vision
- Wayne state uni invested 90 million into a biomedical research facility
- 13000 small community farms established to greenify the city
Give features of the Detroit future city iniative
- Henry Ford hospital $1 billion expansion
- Created in 2012
- Public transport improvements such as the Q line
- 50 year plan
- Blue and green infrastructure
When did Detroit have significant population growth ?
19th century
What are the qualitative sources that can be used for Detroit ?
- 8 mile film by Eminem
- Heidelberg Project art
- ‘An abandoned factory’ poem by Philip Levine
What does 8 mile film explore
- focus on identity, place, and self-expression in a divided Detroit’s mostly Black, lower-income neighborhoods and its whiter, more affluent suburbs.
- reclaiming power through vulnerability and truth
- cultural exchange and tension in Detroit’s music and racial landscape
What was the Heidelburg project about ?
- Community art project in Detroit that transformed a decaying, economically depressed neighborhood into a vibrant, symbolic landscape
- The project functions as both artistic expression and social critique. It calls out:
Racial segregation
Economic inequality
Neglect by city officials - The project challenges what it means to create “place” in a city often reduced to statistics of abandonment and decline.
By transforming vacant lots and derelict homes into artworks, Guyton redefined the neighborhood’s identity and invited the world to see beauty and meaning in neglected space.
What does ‘An abandoned factory’ poem by Philip Levine explore ?
- labor, loss, and the transformation of place. It explores the emotional and historical weight of Detroit’s industrial decline, and serves as both an memorial for the working class victims and a critique of capitalist neglect of the city
- Detroit used as a symbol of decline and shows the social consequences of this
‘the gradual decay of dignity’
‘estimates the loss of human power’
